Community Advisory Committee Members Dan Helix, Chair Philip Arnold, Vice Chair Niko Anagnostopoulos Colleen Geraghty Claudia Hein Charles Hoffman Randall Horton Jerome Hudson Ajit Kaushal Rosanne Nieto Stuart Posselt Paul Sinz Darrin Walters ANNOTATED MINUTES REGULAR MEETING OF THE COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR THE CNWS REUSE PROJECT SPECIFIC PLAN Tuesday, November 7, 2017 6:00 p.m. Council Chamber 1950 Parkside Drive MISSION STATEMENT - Apply the Reuse Project Goals and Guiding Principles, adopted Reuse Area Plan policies, and accepted Term Sheet provisions in evaluating and commenting on potential Specific Plan alternatives or issues. The CAC shall also serve as a communication link between the Reuse Project and the community-at large by assisting in targeting outreach to neighborhoods and interest groups, and promoting participation at workshops and public meeting. Information for the public on participation at Committee meetings can be found on the back of the Speaker Identification Card located near the Council Chamber entrance. Should you have any questions after consulting the Speaker Identification Card, please contact Pamela Laperchia prior to the Committee meeting. AGENDIZED ITEMS The public is entitled to address the Committee on items appearing on the agenda before or during the Committee s consideration of that item. Each speaker will be limited to approximately three minutes. 1. OPENING Roll Call - Dan Helix, Philip Arnold, Niko Anagnostopoulos, Colleen Geraghty, Claudia Hein, Charles Hoffman, Randall Horton, Jerome Hudson, Ajit Kaushal, Rosanne Nieto, Paul Sinz, Darrin Walters present; Stuart Posselt arrived at 6:40 p.m. Pledge to the Flag Philip Arnold 2. PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD No public comments 1
3. COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE ITEMS The public is entitled to address the Committee on items appearing on the agenda before or during the Committee s consideration of that item. Each speaker will be limited to approximately three minutes. A. Approval of September 19, 2017 Annotated Minutes Minutes for the September 19, 2017 meeting were approved by a motion from Rosanne Nieto and Claudia Hein seconded the motion. B. Discussion and Overview of Zoning Amendment for Green Frame Joan Ryan gave a presentation on the Green Frame. CAC members asked questions and expressed their opinions and some concerns. Staff provided a response. Why are there different feet in different areas of the Green Frame? When West Street opens up, how is that going to affect Concord High School when we change that? Would Concord High School spill over into the green frame? Why don t we see the same green frame by Sun Terrace, why is it stopping at Willow Pass Road? Is there a downside in your analysis that we are not catching, anything to give you pause? Do we have access to the public input from the workshop? For the public record CAC has only the annotated minutes not the comments from each person, is that right? Why is the CAC just now hearing about the Green Frame? Is the financial impact any different whether or not it is in our specific plan? What is the reasoning for picking 275 vs 400? PUBLIC COMMENT Caleb Heikkla Who is the Linear Park defined by? Disc golf would fit nicely in the green frame. Natalie Current concern is the cost of building and maintaining a park, a lot of people would volunteer to help with their services and donations. The focus should be on native plants, reduces your cost in maintenance. Why not bump the green frame up to 300? Andre Nouyen They prefer the 400 green frame and feels anything smaller would create more problems, such as crime and people throwing trash in the area. He is concerned about home depreciation due to the number of years construction will be going on. 2
C. Discussion and Designation of Proposed Land Use Plan Director Bjerke provided an introduction. Joan Ryan gave a presentation on the proposed land use plan. CAC members asked questions and expressed their opinions and some concerns. Staff provided a response. There was an interchange as to the process regarding timing of technical studies to address the Specific Plan as to when those would occur during the process. Do you know if we have a target date to start the CEQA process? How is the study going to measure cut-through traffic? How would the modifications to the land use plan be proposed to this committee? Are the mitigations going to show up in the end of the Specific Plan or interim proposals. If a study turns out if something isn t a good idea, would someone come back to us? Have we eliminated larger shopping by tournament sports park? Staff is asking for a go ahead based on what we see here, not written in stone and mods may be made as we go along. Why do you need it now, but you said you could go forward without that. If you were given direction and concurrence, you would come back to us with other stuff before going forward. The process stays the same to get the studies going. This is legendary project to plan for generations to come. We need to make sure everything is done and financial viable as well. We want to get rid of Measure Q and the City support itself before getting this done. I have only seen this plan for the land use and now we want to have studies to tweak it. Do we know how significant the changes would be? Why isn t the plan we are working for the Specific Plan? Why do we need approval of an interim phase? Hesitation from the CAC because of the cost of all of the studies. We need a huge traffic study to figure out how this is going to work. We have to start with something in mind and the Specific Plan is where we start. We changed locations of schools, shopping centers, campus, things change. We can t do the environmental study without a basis. Regarding the frontage on Willow Pass Road, the amount we are setting aside for Phase 2 & Phase 3, what is your opinion is regarding getting future developers with a smaller frontage? The original Phase 1 had more high paying jobs. PUBLIC COMMENT Kenji Yamada - I understand when we hear this plan is not written in stone, does this mean any changes can be made to it later, that nothing here is being committed to stone, no element whatsoever about it? 3
Rachel Flynn from Lennar FivePoint provided a brief introduction to their presentation. Eron Ashley of Hart Howerton gave a presentation on the changes made in the Specific Plan. CAC members asked questions and expressed their opinions and some concerns. TOD has 145 acres, houses are great but are a drain on City services we need something to offset. Why only 49 of 145 acres? BART has 18 acres, they are talking about office space. BART that needs parking, not office spaces. Concord has commercial space down to 9%, there isn t another building in Concord ready to go up. The market will be up by the time this is built. We need to play the game of time and money. Wouldn t a convention center be a draw in a TOD center? It would increase success of it, would be a welcome addition. Regarding the parking ratio, why are you proposing parking ration at 75%? Think parking ration should be 1-1. When you have less, it doesn t work. The tournament sports park is a dream and we hope it will happen in Phase 2. Not comfortable with where we are today, what makes this world class? We have done work for making downtown area very friendly, lovely park and would hate to see anything take away from that environment. When you talk about Community Center at Willow Pass Road and Olivera Road, you are only a few miles away from Todos Santos. How do you build something and not compete with downtown. Doesn t agree with the comment residential does not pay its own way. Parking ratio is off, need at least 2 for 1. Good idea to locate high school close to tournament sports park and residential. Would there be enhancements to Concord High School? Are you in talks with BART, is now the time to approach them regarding parking and greenspace? Are you going to ask for more parking? Concerns about terrain around BART station. Very hilly area, concerns about doing really major grading. Can we divide urban area around base of the hill to keep nature of the terrain? Students articulate out of the community and that is the need to close schools we should be plugged into this. When a General Plan starts out for a project this size, you can t get down to this detail. What is going on with Amazon? Village Center is good for a grocery store, Denkinger has a grocery store and a lot of stuff on Clayton already. Agree with Rosanne about Todos Santos, keep that as our Center. Would like to see more help toward the lower income to help them build themselves up and the seniors are important. 4
PUBLIC COMMENT Ken Scoles Mercy Housing has developed facilities for veterans at Rancho Cordova. He is meeting with different vet groups to find out their needs. Ashley Coates League of Women Voters fo Diablo Valley supports the master developer s current proposed land use plan as the preferred land use plan for developing the Specific Plan. Evoaio Walle Hispanic Chamber - Attended Economic Development Summit in Antioch where they had a theme or regionalism drive a lot of discussions related to how they see sustainability in the community. I do believe something has to be said about the regionalism or the regional approach to a plan and I believe this plan is very sound as a check-in point. Make sure they see you as clients and they are taking the client services approach. Gloria Bruce As we are seeking to get more jobs, make sure Concord has a housing fit, not just balance. The Bay Area as a whole has added 500,000 jobs and built only 50,000 homes. This project would be world class by providing housing for all income levels. EBHO is happy to be a resource on affordable housing. Rick Kennedy Commends the process and all of the hard work, encourages Council and CAC to work together. Impressed with Lennar Five Point. Cindy Molander Representative for multi-faith council. Excited about jobs and housing. When planning what is going on in the community conveniences part, include provision for nice child care facilities. Staff asked the CAC for approval of the designation of the master developer s proposed land use plan as the preferred land use plan. Chairman Helix asked for a motion, motion was moved by Rosanne Nieto, Randy Horton seconded the motion. Vote was taken and passed 9 to 4. Ayes Niko Anagnostopoulos, Philip Arnold, Colleen Geraghty, Claudia Hein, Jim Hoffman, Randy Horton, Jerry Hudson, Rosanne Nieto, Darrin Walters Noes Dan Helix, Ajit Kaushal, Stuart Posselt, Paul Sinz Abstain - none D. Affordable Housing 101 Briefing Laura Simpson, Manager of Planning, explained affordable housing to the Committee. CAC members asked questions. Is there any priority for Concord residents or can anyone come from other communities apply? Who will be managing this? 5
How are the deed restrictions enforced? At what point would it become necessary for you to request to get money for veterans? Do certain things have to be in place? Getting back to single room occupancy s (SRO), can we put some SRO s in our building plans so we can double up on housing that is more affordable? PUBLIC COMMENT Hamid Taeb - Habitat for Humanity. Looking forward to having 3,000 affordable homes in the development. Don t see the level of ownership vs. rental in the 3,000 homes. City currently has about 65% ownership this is something we should think about. Kenji Yamada Regarding In lieu fees, the state has just passed AB1505 and now in lieu fees can be levied on rental units as well ownership units. This is another possible funding option for affordable housing that Concord could use. E. Next Steps Upcoming meetings - November 21 Transportation Overview - December 19 Infrastructure Overview - January 16 Smart Cities Overview 4. ADJOURNMENT 9:47 p.m. Next Meeting: November 21, 2017 6:00 p.m. ADA NOTICE AND HEARING IMPAIRED PROVISIONS - The Council Chamber is equipped with Easy Listener Sound Amplifier units for use by the hearing impaired. The units operate in conjunction with the Chamber's sound system. You may request the Easy Listener Phonic Ear Personal Sound Amplifier from the City Clerk for personal use during Council meetings. In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and California Law, it is the policy of the City of Concord to offer its public programs, services and meetings in a manner that is readily accessible to everyone, including those with disabilities. If you are disabled and require a copy of a public hearing notice, or an agenda and/or agenda packet in an appropriate alternative format; or if you require other accommodation, please contact the ADA Coordinator at (925) 671-3031, at least five days in advance of the hearing. Advance notification within this guideline will enable the City to make reasonable arrangements to ensure accessibility. 6